Keep going! Its making me think that Spain might be our next trip.

Heather, we are off for 2 weeks in Spain in October and am finding your trip report invaluable! Your collection of web sites are very helpful. Thanks!

Heather, thanks for your trip report. We leave for Europe in 3 weeks and will be visiting Seville, Cordoba, Madrid and Segovia. This is our first time in Spain and are really excited. Please continue with your Madrid and Segovia segments. I want to soak up as much information as I can before we leave :D

I'm bookmarking this so I'll get the rest of the report. My trip to Spain is scheduled for early November in pretty much the same area, so I'm finding this very useful. Thanks!

Heather,
Please finish your report. We are going to this area of Spain in December and are very interested in your observations.

I'm in the early stages of planning our trip to Andalucía and Barcelona for next April and the information you've provided is wonderful. Please do continue. :-)

Your trip to Spain with your mother has been a treat to read about. I hope you continue with more installments. :-)

Belinda

Goodness ... I apologize for how the time has slipped away and the report is yet to be finished.

Here is the report on our Ronda daytrip:

SATURDAY, MAY 27

After starting another day with a wonderful breakfast of toast monitoring and no set itinerary, we decided to spend the day in Ronda. Our very helpful hostess, Claire, suggested a quicker route into the city to avoid traffic and crowds, so we were door-to-parking spot in less than 15 minutes without incident. (Well, there was a small incident with an enormous spider that jumped on my head in the parking garage, sparking a frantic, flailing jig. But, I’m always willing to do whatever it takes to entertain the locals.)

We wandered down the main street and saw military tents and vehicles amassing … gold and red bunting was draped across nearly every building, a small grandstand was erected, honorary wreaths were laid out, and there were police everywhere. Soldiers were turned out in uniform, so we thought (rightly) that it was a parade. So, we wandered to the sidewalk and positioned ourselves for the festivities. After about 10-15 minutes, we heard military parade-type music. Finally, a small, very smart looking procession of drums, horns, etc. (maybe 30 soldiers strong) marched by. Quite a start (we anticipated). We waited. The crowd dispersed, the band marched on up the street, and that was it. Still fun to see. According to one local, the soldiers were from Ronda and stationed in North Africa, and it was their welcome home event to mark the first leave in two years. Later on, we saw the soldiers here and there with girlfriends and family. It all seemed very merry.

The day was particularly stunning and made it difficult to do anything but wander and gawk at the scenery. A very basic description of Ronda is that it is a very old settlement high atop two plateaus with the older section (La Ciudad) and the newer town (El Mercadillo) divided by a 330-foot gorge. The newer town has a lot of arterial streets with innumerable shops and cafes (which, on the whole, seemed pricier, more commercial, and less appealing to us), and it also includes the bullring, the T.I., and a large McDonald’s smack dab at the incredible “New Bridge” that divides the two parts of Ronda. (Again, pardon any inaccuracies … it’s been a bit of time since we returned.)

We easily covered most of the town on foot (particularly the older section), stopping as necessary for a glass of wine, wandering through the whitewashed sections of the old town where the streets were narrow and empty, resting on benches at the edge of the old town walls with views of the far off mountains while flamenco guitarists played under umbrellas. It was a truly great unplanned day.

The few sites where we physically entered a building (and/or paid an admission fee) were:

> Church of Our Lady of the Incarnation, which has a very lovely altarpiece and houses the patron saint of Ronda (cost €2-3)

> Mondragon Palace, the brochure heralds it as “probably the most important civil building in Ronda”, it is at least early 15th century if not older, and is worth a visit; the “Museum of Ronda” displays on the upper levels are, well, interesting (cost €2)

> “The Moorish King’s House”/The Water Mine, were two sites with one entry fee (cost around €4); the Water Mine (14th century) is nearly 400 rather strenuous steps down but worth it for an interesting, unique experience. The House and Gardens (not actually Moorish) are small but lovely and offer some gorgeous views.

For reasons the T.I. couldn’t explain, the bullring was not open to tour, which was unfortunate.

Midday, we wandered to the San Francisco area in the southern part of the old town. We had several restaurant recommendations and ended up making a dinner reservation at Almocabar. This was exceptionally good fortune. The dining room was fully booked, but the extremely nice man (who ended up being one of the cooks) I spoke with added a little table for two in a corner of the room for us. Our waiter was terrific and the food was very, very good. Our appetizer, a manchego cheese pate, was the highlight. I had duck, also good, and mom had a fish dish that was very tasty. Her dessert, a multi-chocolate warm cake-type dish, reportedly was fabulous. The waiter gave us dessert wine, which I’ll try to recall the name of because it was well worth remembering. Unbelievably, with such good food, wine, and service, the dinner cost just a bit over €50.

Sometimes, it is good to have no plans for the day.

SUNDAY, MAY 28 – DRIVING TO SETENIL (or, “How I Angered Our Rental Car”)
Today, after waking up a smidge under the weather, it took me until nearly noon to motivate into planning mode for our last day with the car.

Uber-host Peter laid in some toast with jam and hot tea to fortify me. Looking for something low-key, we headed out to drive to Setenil via some Roman ruins. To this day, I’m not sure if the ruins we found were Roman, but the drive was gorgeous. Following Peter’s directions (you’ll want to enter Setenil from the top … the drive is much better), I subjected my pseudo-automatic rental car to narrowing streets that snaked through town at angles that I strongly believe were near to 60-70 degrees. In my next life, I’m opening a brake and transmission shop at the bottom of the village.

The only open parking spot was, of course, at the very bottom of the village, which tumbles down two sides of a small gorge. Homes and shops are built directly into the rock. I have a couple of terrific photos (I’ll post them on World Is Round soon) that show this. The restaurant were we ate lunch on the town’s main square was very good and the well earned sangria was a highlight. We ate outside but the restaurant’s interior was partially formed by one side of the gorge. The women’s bathroom was pretty much an extremely immaculate, very small cave with electricity and plumbing. The heat and sun were unbelievable that day, so we choose to relax under the umbrella and soak in the cool breeze (and a bit more sangria).

Aside from the beautiful drives, lunch, and walk around the town, we didn’t do much else.

Just a quick note that I really appreciate all of the nice feedback and I am very sorry to have been so remiss in finishing the report for some of you who were heading off to Spain before now. Work's been consuming my summer and Spain seems ages ago. This really brings it all back.

MONDAY, MAY 29 - GRANADA
The rental car was due at the Granada airport by 11:00 a.m., so Peter made us an early breakfast and we left around 8:45 or so. If the drive from Seville was stunning, the drive on to Granada was equally so. The two-land roads wound through hills and olive groves, and no traffic appeared for most of the first 90 minutes. The full drive was just under two hours. The rental car agency gave no drop-off information other than “Granada Airport”, but it appears all of the rental agencies have trailers with small car lots lining the road to the airport. Handily, the lots share space with gas stations, and the agencies have shuttles the airport (or, at least, Hellios does). A cab from the airport to our hotel on the Alhambra cost around €20, and it’s a pretty long drive.

We stayed at the Hotel America, which is on the Alhambra and virtually next door to the much pricier Parador. The room, which was pretty spacious with a small sitting area near the long windows and a pretty tiled bathroom, cost €110 per night for two people.

http://www.hotelamericagranada.com/

The location was fantastic because it was so quiet and we could stroll around without anyone else at night.

After checking into the hotel and doing a bit of “ooh-ing and aah-ing” at the building, its courtyard, and our room, we were starving so we ate a late lunch in the hotel’s courtyard restaurant. The food was mediocre but the setting was great.

Our tickets were reserved for the next day, so we decided to stretch our legs and hike along a small stream that ran down alongside the Generalife. We strolled and stopped to soak our feet in the cool water and relaxed. No one even came by but we did see a man reading on one of the secluded banks, and he was well prepared with a few beer bottles cooling in the stream. A very nice way to pass the time.

After resting our weary tourist feet, we took the Alhambra shuttle bus (€1.00) down into Granada. It’s a very handy service and drops off at the Plaza Nueva. For the rest of the afternoon, we wandered and admired the city, walking through the arcaded streets of Alcaicena and stopping to visit the mixed Gothic Royal Chapel (entry €3). The tombs of Isabella and Ferdinand are here and both the exterior and interior are quite beautiful. In addition to the architecture, historical significance, and the gorgeous interior, the Chapel houses Isabella’s small impressive private art collection (including works by Boticelli, Memling, and others, as well as Isabella’s crown and other royal items).

http://www.capillarealgranada.com/

Then, we visited the main Cathedral of Granada, which is literally next door to the Royal Chapel but a separate entry (€3). The interior is cool, with soaring heights, and completely designed in gold and white. It was spectacularly surprising. It is quite large and we spent more than an hour marveling.

The bus drop off at Plaza Nueva, the Chapel, and the Cathedral are all extremely close together … maybe 10 minutes max between furthest points. We spent more time strolling, especially after I started noticing how fantastic the graffiti is in Granada. When my photos are posted, one shot turned out particularly well.

For dinner, I had a couple of suggestions written down and ended up picking the Antigua Bodega Castaneda (Elvira, 5). Several sources recommended this place and it was very good. We had the surliest waitress in Spain, but she was inefficient to compensate. The food eventually arrived but the sangria was far more punctual, so we ignored the rest. We ordered far too many tapas, but all of them were good.

Really, from the beginning of planning the trip, Granada was getting the short shrift with two nights and barely 1.5 days. Like the other 3 places, I needed a week here, too.

Another quick, inexpensive shuttle back up to the hotel and a terrific night’s sleep. Tomorrow, the reason for visiting Granada and our 9:00 a.m. reservation looms …

Just a few of the Internet sites I bookmarked for Granada:

Alhambra main site: https://w3.grupobbva.com/ALHAMBRA/alhambra/home.html

Good info on Alhambra tickets, times, layout, etc.:
http://www.ricksteves.com/plan/desti...n/alhambra.htm

General sites:
http://www.vivagranada.com/

http://www.spain.info/TourSpain/Dest...tm?language=en

http://goeurope.about.com/od/granada/

Walking tours:
http://www.ciceronegranada.com/

The above walking tour company was recommended several places; however, we just didn't have the time to use their services.

Just got my Seville photos up on
http://www.worldisround.com/travel/index.html

This includes the daytrip to Cordoba.

Soon, the photos will all have titles.

tagging for future reading :D

Thanks ... sorry it's so lengthy, but I blame it on Spain for being so amazing. ;;)

Hey, someone else takes pictures of their food. :D

Direct link to the photo page:
http://www.worldisround.com/articles/307177/index.html

Yeesh, ChicagoHeather, your report is not only interesting, it's beautifully organized (and lots of paragraph breaks) so it's easy to read, no matter how long.

But your prompt filing of a report has me blaming my dog for eating mine....

Topcat, too funny ... I edited out other meal photos, but should add them back in!

Sue, thank you so much for the compliments. It's all pretty much from memory but there is so much that has been left out (to the appreciation of many whose eyes already are weary). I feel awful that time's been so short that I missed some of the questions and responses on the thread. Plus, the report is still unfinished (5 travel days left to summarize). Don't even have a dog to blame.

Also, because photos are already on Kodak Gallery and it's taking so long to load to World Is Round, the following is a link that (hopefully) will lead any interested parties to my trip photos:

http://tinyurl.com/hpemv

Warning! There are 307 photos. So, calculating that a photo is worth 1,000 words, my trip report easily will be 306,000 words shorter than the photo report. Signing in to view the slideshow isn't necessary. So, if you aren't a member of Kodak Gallery, you won't need to sign up. (Final note: the photo title are forthcoming.)

I love to see food pictures. I have a couple on my picture page from our trip to Spain in May/June.

http://bellsouthpwp.net/t/o/topcat7/Europix2006.htm

Great photos! Thanks for sharing. I see your note "more photos coming", so I bookmarked it to check back.